The invention lies in the field of conveyor technology, and relates to a method and to a device according to the respective, independent patent claims. The method and the device according to the invention serve for the selective processing of printed products.
It is known to selectively process or not process printed products by way of conveying the printed products in a serial flow through a respective processing station, wherein the processing station is controlled such that it is active for the printed products to be processed, and passive for the printed products which are not to be processed. The disadvantage of such a processing lies in the fact that in the case of a relatively time-consuming processing, this determines the total performance and specifically independently of whether a larger or a smaller portion of the printed products is to be processed or not. The same applies essentially to other arrangements too, in which a fed flow of printed products is divided onto different conveyor paths, on which the printed products are processed in a different manner, or are not processed, if the differently processed and/or non-processed printed products are to be unified back again into a regular conveyor flow for a further processing, after this first processing stage. If this further processing is again a selective processing (further processing stage), then the reunified conveyor flow is divided up again, and after the processing, is unified again, if necessary. Thereby, it is the most time-consuming processing of the processing stages which determines the total performance of the whole device.
It is thus the object of the invention to provide a method and a device which permit at least the partial alleviation of the performance limitations briefly mentioned above, for the processing with at least two stages of selective processing which are independent of one another.